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"I love this place. This is my end goal. It speaks of excellence. Our whole purpose of training is to <U>win</U>. Everything we do is geared to the team. I don't have individual motivational awards. I believe football is a team game. Everyone is to make themselves into their best possible self for the sake of the team. We feel with our new facilities that we have made a statement that we are committed to excellence; committed to playing and competing with Division-I teams."&nbsp;</P> <P>I like positive people but I still wasn't convinced. My comment when I first saw the freshmen was where are the D-I players? I did not see a Division-I body among the sixty some freshmen. Coach Emery smiled, "Wait until you see my varsity players."&nbsp;</P> <P>I responded, "But you can't even redshirt these kids. Plus, I looked at your varsity roster. Only 45% of your varsity players are over 6-feet tall. You must like a challenge." Coach Emery smiled again and invited me to take a tour of the Naval Academy before the varsity came to practice.&nbsp;</P> <P>We walked across the hall to the Staubach Locker Room which can house up to 151 players. The room, of course, is named after Dallas Cowboy great, Roger Staubach, who was the 1963 Heisman Trophy winner for Navy. Next, I was shown Bellino Auditorium which holds 150 and is used for staff and team meetings. The room is replete with the latest video/computer presentation gadgetry and is named after Navy's 1960 Heisman Trophy winner, Joe Bellino.&nbsp;</P> <P>The football offices were on the second floor of the $8 million Ricketts Hall renovation project. Charlie Weatherbie, only in his second year as the Navy head football coach, had his office over-looking, what else, Chesapeake Bay. Well, actually Spa Creek and Severn River which joins the Chesapeake Bay. I knew Charlie when he took Utah State University three years ago to their first Big West Championship in 15 years and their first bowl game in 32 years which was also their first bowl victory in history. Navy hired Coach Weatherbie anticipating similar results.&nbsp;</P> <P>The <U>Washington Post</U> wrote, "Coach Weatherbie has earned the undying love of his players from the very start, sending his assistants to class with them so that the staff would be certain to understand just what kind of pressures the players would endure off the field."&nbsp;The <U>Baltimore Sun</U> added, "Coach Weatherbie fired up the whole academy. His impact was so positive, he received a standing ovation walking through the dining hall." But what about the lack of size? Coach Weatherbie has implanted the following popular slogan into every midshipman's brain: "It's not the size of the dog that matters but the size of the fight of the dog."&nbsp;</P> <P>Last year Navy finished with a 5-6 record which was their best since 1990. The Midhsipmen went from 102nd in scoring defense to 17th in the nation; from 107th in rushing offense to 7th in the nation and they were 18th nationally in total defense. Navy set seven school records in 1995 and had a second team All-America in junior cornerback Sean Andrews who did not even get into a game the previous year. Five opponents were held to under 100 yards rushing.&nbsp;</P> <P>Will Navy's rich heritage be revived? They have had 29 first team All-America's, 17 National Football Foundaton &amp; Hall of Fame Inductees, 4 Maxwell Trophy Winners and were National Football Champions in 1926. They rank 26th among Division I schools with 554 victories and a winning percentage of .556 which includes 264 shutouts. However, times have been tougher in recent years.